


When Your Friends Become Something More

by casualsnail



Category: World Trigger
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Help, Honestly there's so many characters and random side pairings, Hurt/Comfort, I finally understand what everyone means when they say tagging is hard, It gets better I promise, It's really all just painfully awkward, Looking back I kind of regret the name but naming things is hard., M/M, That's later on, implied suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-14 23:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8032486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casualsnail/pseuds/casualsnail
Summary: Some how, Midorikawa found himself hopelessly in love with Yuma, Yuma is completely oblivious, and Yoneya is plotting for the both of them to get together. They do eventually, there are a lot of side pairings, and it gets more depressing the further on we go as my mental health spirals into the gutter. Horray!





	1. Chapter 1

Midorikawa Shun did not start off his friendship with Kuga Yuma in a peaceful manner. Instead, it started with the thin blades in each of their hand's reverberating with each strike, until one slipped into the other's artificial body. Friendship that grew with fighting. It wasn't anything spectacular, just rivalry, both people pushing each other to be better and better. Of course the higher ups supported it, they'd support anything, no matter how dirty, that would bring more power to their fighting force. Not that it was exactly a bad thing. Dirty methods or not, they kept the city safe. No, Midorikawa didn't mind that so much as the fact that no matter what, he was always a step behind his rival. 

Ever since they'd first met, Midorikawa had been very aware of the fact that Yuma was strong. Strong in more of a sense than just that of the fact that Midorikawa still couldn't manage to come out of the rank war booth having gained points instead of losing them. Everything seemed to be calculated with him, like he'd seen many battles come and pass, and had picked up absolutely everything he could from each one. Midorikawa supposed this was fairly expected with being a neighbor and all, but even so, Yuma had seemed special. 

So it really shouldn't have come as a surprise when Yuma told him that his real body was being stored in his dad's black trigger and was slowly dying.

"It's not like I'm about to die. I still have a lot of things I want to do, and I don't plan on dying anytime soon. It's nothing really to worry about, just thought I should tell you" the white haired boy had said, raising a hand dismissively and scrunching up his face like his own life ending was just some casual joke dropped on the way to lunch. 

Midorikawa hadn't known how to respond back then, I mean how are you supposed to react to that kind of thing? All he can remember is a very confusing surge of emotions swallowing him up, a mix of pity, despair, and a strange desire to comfort Yuma without being overbearing, and for Yuma to accept this... his comfort openly, and seek it out. Looking back, that was the beginning of Midorikawa's realization that this person he'd considered an obstacle, but also a rival and friend, was also the person he fell in love with.

A realization that was now very obvious, with the older boy strattled over him, one knee pinning Midorikawa's left arm against the trion generated ground, and the other keeping him balanced perfectly so that Midorikawa couldn't move around. Their blades, scorpion, were both inter tangled with each other, so that if either of them tried to pull out the blade to finish the other off, they'd be cut down before they got the chance too. It was a very precarious position, leaving few options available. Midoriya also felt like it made it blatantly obvious that he was in love with the person pinning him down. He told himself that no, he really did have no other choice to look up and survey Yuma's steady face and try not to make his secret extremely obvious to anyone who might be watching. He just hoped that Yoneya, who was watching their fight in hopes to be able to finally fight the white haired neighbor, wouldn't pick up on it. Indeed, Midorikawa thought, that would be disastrous.

Gritting his teeth, Midorikawa shifted his weight over to the side, and wrenched his arm up in an attempt to throw off his rival. For half a second, he had almost thought he was successful, until a plume of smoke like trion came gushing out from the now gaping hole in his chest. 

"Trion gland destroyed," Midorikawa heard the flat computer voice say, "Midorikawa bailout. Winner, Kuga Yuma." Midorikawa felt himself being whisked away, feeling momentarily weightless, until he fell back onto the mat in his real body. He sighed, than pushed himself up, and jumped over the railing of the stairs on the way back into the large lobby where solo rank wars were held. Yuma was already out there by then.

"Looks like I lost again." Midorikawa said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Yuma grinned cockily, even though him winning wasn't anything new. 

"You're getting a lot closer than before though." In addition to Yoneya, Kodera, a sniper in the same squad as Yoneya, was there. "The end result was 15-25, you were one match away from it dividing into 6-4."

"Never mind that, fight me now, shrimp!" Yoneya butt in eagerly. Kodera looked at him disapprovingly through his glasses. 

"We're on defense duty in 15 minutes. You don't have time, let's go." 

Yoneya groaned. "Seriously?! Fine, Maybe next time then."

"Yeah." Yuma nodded. 

They watched the other two leave, but right before leaving, Yoneya clapped Midorikawa on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Nice." Midorikawa immediately felt his face heat up. Did Yoneya know? He couldn't have figured out...

But if the shit eating grin plastered on his face was anything to go by, he knew. Midorikawa fought to surpress the blush rising quickly to his cheeks. This could not end well.


	2. Chapter 2

For the most part, Midorikawa was able to push the sense of foreboding dread he had experienced when he first realized that Yoneya had discovered his secret crush on Yuma out of his mind. Hell, he'd even managed to act normal around his rival, or at least very close to normal. Midorikawa had thankfully managed to dismiss anything out of the ordinary that happened, and continue with life as normal.

A week or so passed in this manner, long enough for Midorikawa to breathe a sigh or relief and let himself think that nothing would happen. He stretched out in the booth where he was sitting, nonchalantly eating a meal he had bought at the large cafeteria in the Border headquarters. He yawned, leaving his eyes closed to get rid of the tired feeling that weighed them down. He was tired after serving defense duty, and very much wanted to take a nap if he had the chance. 

He opened his eyes again when he felt the seat give slightly as another person sat down in it. Sitting across the table from him was a blond boy wearing a long sleeved shirt that had 'A hundred hits in a thousand shots' written on it in kanji. He was smirking at Midorikawa, resting his chin against the palm of his hand. Another person had sat down next to Midorikawa, Yoneya, sitting with his legs crossed and hands folded behind his head. He leaned back against the seat and sighed. "Young love, huh?" Midorikawa immediately felt his face go red.

"So." The blond boy sitting across from him said matter of factly, "Kuga Yuma, huh?" Midorikawa squirmed uncomfortably, this was going to be awkward to say the least.

"Yoneyan, you told Izumin?!" He managed to get out through his mortification. 

"Yup." 

Midorikawa groaned, covering his face with his hands. "This is the worst thing that could've happened." He mumbled, then gave himself up in resignation. If both Izumi and Yoneya knew about his crush, then Midorikawa knew there was no way to avoid it.

"So when are you going to tell him?" Izumi asked casually. Oh, this really was the worst thing that could've happened. 

"I don't exactly have a day written down on the calendar for it." Midorikawa muttered. "Besides, I don't see why I have to tell him anyways, I mean, we're friends, and wouldn't that just make it..." As he trailed off, both Yoneya and Izumi burst out laughing.

"Seriously? Look, I bet the shimp has never been on a date, and neither have you for that matter. Just ask once, and if it doesn't work out come to a mutual agreement to not worry about it or something." Yoneya offered helpfully. 

"Or at least talk to someone else for advice. I know lot's of people who could probably help you with this kind of thing." Izumi added. And then, with very little input on his part, Yoneya and Izumi were already dragging Midorikawa off, saying something about getting the advice from someone with experience. Although Midorikawa had no idea what that meant. 

\--------------------

Approximately 5 minutes later, he found out.

"I...what?" After Yoneya had suggested a location where someone could be, Izumi had led them both through the hallways and into the large open area for solo rank wars. From there, they had pinpointed Murakami, the number four ranked attacker, and simply said they needed to talk before dragging him off to some deserted corridor. 

"I asked if you were dating Arafune." Yoneya said carefully. Immediately, a blush burst forth on Murakami's cheeks.

"Oh. Yeah, I am." He admitted. "Why?" Both Yoneya and Izumi grinned slyly back at Midorikawa before shoving him forward.

"See, we have a friend here who has this massive crush," Izumi covered part of his mouth with his hand, to add the affect of high school gossip. Midorikawa could feel his face start to heat up. "And we thought you could help." He could feel himself blushing even harder.

Murakami carefully surveyed Midorikawa's now bright red face. The spiky haired attack might've been blushing before, but now his face was completely placid, showing no signs what so ever of emotion. Of course, most of this was more just Murakami's face than his actual personality, but nonetheless, it was unsettling.

"It's Yuma, isn't it?"

Oh. And Midorikawa thought that he'd been flustered before. Not like this though, this reached a whole new level. If this were a video game, a little box displaying ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: COMPLETE EMBARRASSMENT, would've popped up in the corner of the screen. Midorikawa nodded deftly.

"I've had my suspicions for a while that you liked him." Murakami continued calmly. "Although I didn't actually know for sure."

So Murakami had known before he himself had. Great. Midorikawa didn't actually think it was possible to reach this level of mortification. Someone help him, he might faint. Behind him, he could hear Izumi and Yoneya snorting with laughter.

Murakami eyed him thoughtfully, while from behind him the shit eating grins the two seventeen year olds were exchanging definitely didn't make the situation easier. "You should just tell him." Murakami concluded, "I'm sure Yuma would be fine with it. You'll feel better once you ask him." 

"Is that what you did with Arafune?" Izumi choked out between spurts of very high school girl like giggles.

"No," Murakami continued seemingly unaffected. "Arafune, well..." He paused for a moment, then said, "Let's just say I didn't have too much of a choice in the matter. Not that I mind at all." He added, "I'm very grateful that Arafune approached me like that." Midorikawa wondered that if he ever managed to tell Yuma how he felt, if he would feel the same way. Or even better, he would say something like, I had been waiting for you to ask, and then...

No, Midorikawa thought, shaking his head. He couldn't think like that. He was very content in keeping his relationship with Yuma the way it was, and honestly couldn't see why everyone around him kept telling him to tell Yuma how he felt. 

After thanking Murakami, and spending five minutes trying to recover from complete mortification, Midorikawa found himself being dragged off again by Yoneya and Izumi. Before he could get a word in, they were standing outside a B rank team operations room. Without hesitation, Yoneya knocked on the door.

The women who opened it had short, wavy black hair and fiery eyes. She carried herself with dignity, her arms folded over her black zip up sweatshirt. Midorikawa recognized her as Kumagai, the attacker from Nasu squad.

"Who is it?" She said. When she saw the three of them, her brows scrunched together like she was trying to remember something. "You're... Yoneya from Miwa squad, right? Narasaka introduced us a while ago."

"Yup." Yoneya answered, confirming what she had said. "Anyways, we have a bit of a situation that we need your help with"

As Yoneya explained Midorikawa's 'situation', as he had phrased it earlier, Midoikawa felt himself getting more and more flustered. This seemed to be happening a lot today. Kumagai listened patiently to what Yoneya had to say, with Izumi chiming in on occasion. When they were done, she put one hand to her chin like she was thinking. However, her thought process was quickly interrupted by someone else giggling in the room. 

Midorikawa peeked his head in to see a girl around his age with dark red pigtails and a purple hat shaking with laughter. She looked up and saw Midorikawa, and started chuckling even harder. "Sorry!" She said, not sounding all that sorry, "But you're just like how Kumagai was with Nasu."

"Ah..I.." Kumagai stammered, her face beginning to turn pink.

"I thought so." Yoneya said. "You and Nasu are dating right? Can you help Midorikawa out a bit?" 

"I-we...I wouldn't call it dating exactly-"

"You've kissed on the lips multiple times. I know, I've seen it happen." The other girl in the room added helpfully.

"Akane!" Kumagai exclaimed, her face now the same color as the younger girl's hair. Midorikawa was at least grateful that she was about as flustered as he had felt, Murakami's placid face had unnerved him a bit. Behind them, Yoneya and Izumi both started cracking up.

After Kumagai was done yelling at Akane for 'saying things like that in front of other people', she composed herself quickly to talk to Midorikawa. "So you need help on how to tell your...friend" she said, for lack of a better word, "how you feel, right?" Midorikawa nodded. Kumagai paused to think before replying. "Well, you'll just have to tell him somehow. Maybe invite him to go someplace, like for a meal or something, then explain what you've been feeling towards him recently."

Her advice did make sense. In fact, if Midorikawa ever worked up the nerve to tell Yuma, Kumagai's suggestion sounded like a good way to do it. "Alright, thank you for your help." He said, bowing.

Kumagai smiled. "No problem, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. In truth, with Rei and I, it just kind of happened."

"One day they finally accepted that they were madly in love and upgraded from friends to girlfriends." Akane added helpfully. Kumagai started blushing again, causing Midorikawa to chuckle softly. 

"I'll keep that in mind." He said, walking after Izumi and Yoneya who had already started walking down the hall, arguing about something almost certainly insignificant. He waved over his shoulder. "Bye."

"Mmhmm." Kumagai nodded. Akane jumped up from where she was sitting and waved merrily. 

"I'm telling you spear geek, that never happened." Izumi was arguing, when Midorikawa butt in.

"Izumin, what are you talking about?" He asked, squeezing in between the two of them.

"I'm trying to make this idiot understand what happened in the book we're reading for school." Izumi sighed, "Not that he actually read it." Midorikawa wasn't honestly surprised by this. Neither Yoneya or Izumi had the best track record when it came to grades. 

"What book are you reading?" He asked.

"Frankenstein." Both Izumi and Yoneya replied at the same time, then glared at each other. 

"Never heard of it." Midorikawa said.

"It's this old English book about this French scientist who finds away to bring this corpse he found in a church yard to life-" Yoneya began before Izumi cut him off.

"And I'm telling you, that never happened. First off all, he was German. He didn't reanimate a corpse, he was creating life. Not bringing it back. Then, his best friend walks in and finds this monster he created, and-"

"That didn't happen either." All three of them jumped, then whirled around. Standing behind them was Miwa, a boy Yoneya and Izumi's age who was in the same grade as them and attended the same school. He had shortish glossy black hair, and wore an expression that was both tired and irritated at the same time. "His best friend, his name was Henry Clerval which you would know if you had read the book, never found the monster he created. After Frankenstein created the monster, he left. When he came back, it was gone. Also, he was from Geneva." Miwa frowned, seeing the confused look on Izumi and Yoneya's faces. "Geneva is in Switzerland. Not Germany or France."

"Oh...right. Yeah, I knew that, I just forgot." Izumi said quickly. "And I did read the book. I just read it kind of.. fast." Miwa gave him a skeptical look, before sighing exasperatedly. 

"The test is in three days, you still have time to study and get a passing grade. It would be bad for both of you if you failed. Ask someone for help if you need it."

Izumi rolled his eyes. "I know."

"Oh yeah, Shuji!" Yoneya said quickly, like he was remembering something. "We're trying to help Midorikawa out with something, can we get your opinion?"

"What?" 

"So Midorikawa's got this crush on Kuga Yuma from Tamakoma, and he doesn't know how to tell him. Got any advice?"

Miwa eyed Midorikawa carefully. "Kuga... as in that neighbor kid?" Midorikawa felt his blood run cold. Miwa's hatred of neighbors was common knowledge among many Border agents, surely he wouldn't react well to Midorikawa's... situation with Yuma. Speechlessly, he nodded. 

The whole passageway seemed to be holding his breath. What was in reality hardly more then a second felt like a few minutes. Midorikawa's eyes flickered nervously to the ground to avoid the the piercing stare of Miwa's red ones. 

"Just tell him. If you don't it'll end up turning into a huge deal that'd be a pain in the ass to deal with. Either way, it's not my problem, and I don't understand things like these." Miwa said simply.

"Ah, right." Midorikawa said, remembering how to talk again. Miwa started walking down the hallway.

"Shuji, where are you going?" Yoneya asked him.

"Studying." 

"Again?" Yoneya whispered, more to himself than anything else. "Does he even sleep?"

"Make sure you study as well." Miwa spoke over his shoulder.

"Yeah yeah, we will." Yoneya called back.

"Miwa can be scary." Midorikawa muttered under his breath. Yoneya laughed at this.

"I guess I can see where you're coming from. Well, don't take it personally, he's just kind of like that." Yoneya sighed, than continued. "Shuji doesn't have the best social skills, so I guess sometimes it's hard to tell when he's mad or not." 

Izumi snorted. "True. Although he's not exactly subtle when he doesn't like someone, so it's not hard to tell then. Also, I was closer to being right about Frankenstein," He added at the end with a grin.

"What? You mean about that best friend guy? Yeah I totally forgot he existed." Yoneya said. 

"You mean you didn't read the book." Izumi corrected him.

"No, his best friend was the one who died after seeing the monster in Frankenstein's bedroom."

As Yoneya and Izumi launched into another argument over Frankenstein, Midorikawa was beginning to see why Miwa was concerned with the two of them passing the test.

\--------------------

After he had gone home for the night, and (mostly) done all of his homework, Midorikawa took a shower. The warm water helped clear his thoughts, and he decided to decide what to do with his 'situation' (was he really going to use that word? He couldn't think of a better one.) with Yuma. Everyone he had talked to had said it would be better to tell him. And maybe it was. However, Midorikawa still didn't thing he had it in him to ask.

He finally came to the conclusion to ask Mikumo. Although he wasn't very strong, Osamu Mikumo was a genuinely nice and caring person. Midorikawa also knew that Yuma held a lot of respect for Mikumo, and that the two of them were about as close as friends to get. Although Midorikawa doubted that Mikumo had any experience whatsoever in romance, he knew that the bespectacled boy understood Yuma the best out of anyone, and had a feeling that his advice would be more helpful than anyone else's that he'd talked to day.

As Midorikawa turned the water off and stepped into the steamy yet chilly air, he resolved to ask Mikumo for help, and if he was confident enough, he would ask Yuma to hang out sometime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that the BFF said that relationships between Border agents were rare. Thus, this is an AU where they're not and a lot of my ships are canon. I have no idea if Yoneya actually has met people in Nasu squad as Miwa swuad and Nasu squad haven't interacted in canon, but since Narasaka and Nasu are cousins I took a few liberties and said that they've met. Also I feel like this isn't Akane's personality, but since Sayako usually communicates over video chat, it would be harder to write her in for that part, so I just had Akane say all the sarcastic comments. Maybe Sayako is rubbing off on her. I originally planned to have more side pairings than this, and actually wasn't going to put Miwa in. Then somehow Yoneya and Izumi ended up arguing about Frankenstein (I blame the essay I had to write on it last year). Also I posted this like 1 minute after the first chapter lol I'm just going to post one more than be done for now.


	3. Chapter 3

Normally, people weren't too hard to find when you were looking for them in Border. In total, the Border headquarters had about 500 agents, and since Midorikawa was fairly certain no one spent every hour of their day in headquarters, there would be significantly less in the building at one given time. So really, it shouldn't have been so damn hard to find one four eyed captain.

Midorikawa hummed to himself in frustration as he checked the solo rank wars lobby for the third time. Of course, there were many logical solutions as to why Mikumo was no where to be found. He could be on defense duty, or at the Tamakoma branch head quarters, or studying. Everyone who was still in school seemed to be studying recently. Midorikawa probably would've had Izumi or Yoneya help him look, except Miwa had dragged them into what Yoneya had called "A study session that would drive away any invading neighbors". For once, Midorikawa was grateful he was still in middle school.

After pacing back and forth down a corridor that didn't look any different from any other one in the building, Midorikawa flopped down on a bench and sighed in a very over exaggerated fashion, letting his body go slightly limp. He almost immediately jumped back up, then slammed into someone.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Said the victim to Midorikawa's frustration.

"It's okay." Midorikawa said, steadying himself. Then, he looked up at the person he's nearly knocked over and exclaimed, "Ah! Mikumo!"

Mikumo was still in his school uniform, and was straightening the bottom rimmed glasses that had been knocked slightly askew in their collision. His hair was jet black, and looked like it had been ruffled and not been fixed afterwards.

"Midorikawa?" Mikumo started, breaking out in an all too familiar cold sweat. At least Tamakona second's captain didn't ever change. He was almost always in a state of shock or at the very least minor discomfort. Still, after searching for what felt like hours, it was too convenient door Midorikawa to, well, run into him right then.

"Where were you, four eyes?" Midorikawa asked with the slightest hint of irritation. He had looked for three hours or so, and personally he felt that he had the right to be mildly annoyed. Mikumo blinked.

"I was at the Tamakoma branch." He replied earnestly. "Jin said I should head over here though, something about me being needed somewhere..."

Upon hearing his savior's name, Midorikawa immediately perked up. "Jin did? Oh, that was me by the way. I mean, me that needed you, I mean, what Jin said," Midorikawa very unintelligently babbled for a minute, before reminding himself to breath. "What I mean, is that Jin was probably referring to me, I need your opinion on something."

"My opinion? Um, sure, what did you want to ask?" Mikumo replied. Midorikawa glanced cautiously down the hallway.

"Is...Yuma here?" He asked carefully.

"No, it's only me." Mikumo replied, and Midorikawa was grateful that he hadn't shown to much emotion saying his cru-FRIEND, he meant friend's name. "Do you want me to get him?" Mikumo asked with so much sincerity that it almost made Midorikawa's skin crawl.

"No!" Midorikawa replied, probably far faster than what would've been considered normal, "No, no it's fine, actually what I wanted to ask was about Yuma." Midorikawa rapidly exclaimed, using tense hand gestures to further covey whatever it was he was trying to say. He could feel Mikumo's... Concern. Judgement was not really something Mikumo ever did, so concern was a far better way to describe it.

"So what do you want to ask?" The shooter asked him, and Midorikawa thanked some bizarre cosmic power that allowed him to fall in love with a person with such a helpful best friend.

"Ah, could we not talk about it here? Look, I know a good place." Midorikawa dragged Mikumo along. He wouldn't have doubted that half of Border probably knew his 'secret' by now, courtesy of Izumi and Yoneya, but he wasn't too keen on the other half finding out. Midorikawa lead Mikumo into the Kusakabe squad operations room, and quickly shut the door. Since the other members of his squad had a severe case of never being at Border headquarters ever, Midorikawa figured that this would be the safest place to talk. He sat down across from Mikumo on the standard operations room couch, and before he had a chance to stop himself , blurted out "I have a crush on Yuma."

There was a pause, a very awkward one that was punctuated by Mikumo tripping over the other couch in surprise and falling in a bizarre very Mikumo like fashion onto the cushions. 

"Ah, sorry," Mikumo said, apologizing for his own clumsiness and straightening is glasses. "So, is that all you wanted to talk about?"

Midorikawa nodded, then shook his head. "Um well, you see, I want to tell him but..."

"You don't know how?" Mikumo finished for him, and Midorikawa nodded. It was a bit odd, how Mikumo was so accepting of this... Well, whatever this was. Then again, Midorikawa had noticed that Mikumo was a very peculiar person, who had a tendency to look at things from all angles. The four eyes captain put a hand to his chin, thinking.

"I think you should just tell him." Was the first response, which made Midorikawa want to scream 'Do you know how many times I've heard that already', when Mikumo continued.

"Nothing's going to change if you don't, I mean, Kuga isn't the most socially aware person, especially when it comes to things like this. If you want to just stay as friends, then don't do anything, but I doubt much will change if you don't." Midorikawa swallowed. Mikumo's advice certainly made sense. That didn't answer the question of how to tell Yuma though. Luckily, Mikumo wasn't finished.

"As for how to tell him, I'd just do it. With Kuga's side effect, you're not going to be able to get around it. Find a time that works for you and just do it. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Midorikawa had heard roughly the same thing from various different agents, yet hearing it from Mikumo made him feel more assured that it really was the best course of action. Perhaps it was just the captain's closeness with the neighbor, or maybe it was that surprisingly after hearing the same thing repeatedly, Midorikawa had just agreed. Either way, Mikumo's advice made sense. Midorikawa nodded.

"Ok, thanks Mikumo." He said, bowing his head slightly.

"Ah sure, no problem." Four eyes stood up to leave, but paused at the doorway. "Midorikawa."

"What?"

"I don't have a problem with you dating him, but if you hurt my friend in any way, I hope you're prepared to face the consequences." As Mikumo left, Midorikawa felt a shiver run down his spine. Scary.

Even though Midorikawa was all too aware of the fact that in any given situation he could probably crush Mikumo, and Midorikawa knew he was far more competent in most settings, his threat still left Midorikawa feeling anxious. Four eyes can be scary sometimes too I guess.

He found Yuma later that day wandering around the solo rank wars lobby with Murakami, who almost immediately noticed him there. He nodded at Midorikawa, almost like saying, 'good luck'. Midorikawa watched the brown haired attacker pull out his phone, like he had gotten a notification, and then dismiss himself, waving a slight goodbye to Yuma as he left. A shiver ran down Midorikawa's spine. Yuma was alone, and he'd have to ask now if he ever wanted too. Taking a deep breath in, Midorikawa plunged his way down the stairs, then spectacularly tripped three steps from the bottom, and did an interesting half running half falling motion down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, he somehow managed to lose balance once again, and toppled straight into Yuma.

Nice one, dumbass, he thought. It was becoming painfully obvious that everyone in the lobby was staring at him now, and also very obvious that he'd managed to fall in a way that not only brought Yuma down with him, but also landed him on top of Yuma. So much for not making a scene.

"Yo, Midorikawa," Yuma said, his eyes in mouth folding into his signature duck face. How he could remain so calm in the current situation was a mystery to Midorikawa, who was almost certain he was blushing like crazy.

"Hey Yuma, sorry." Midorikawa apologized as he pushed himself off of Yuma.

"No worries," Yuma replied, dusting himself off with a little "hm hm."

"Um, Yuma?" Midorikawa began, trying his best not to stammer or say something incredibly dumb in front of a very large group of people.

"What is it?"

"Um well, I, I was um, wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out sometime? Like outside of Border, maybe tonight?" Midorikawa suddenly was feeling a bit more sympathy for all the protagonists of shoujo mangas that he definitely did not read.

"Sure, what time?" Yuma asked, because two friends hanging out shouldn't be that big of a deal. At least, not for Yuma, who didn't know what was coming.

"Does 6:30 work? And can we meet in the park?"

"Yeah that's fine," Yuma replied, "also since you're here, want to have a battle?"

"Ah, I totally forgot!" Midorikawa exclaimed, suddenly aware of the homework he had to do. "I have homework, sorry." Truth be told, he probably wouldn't be very productive, but he wasn't ready to fight Yuma, considering what he was planning on doing tonight. Still, it wasn't exactly a lie, (which he knew would get him nowhere), and Yuma seemed satisfied enough.

"Okay, later then." He waved.

"Alright, fight me now!" Yoneya appeared from who knows where, a gleeful tint in his eyes. He was probably so certain that he would finally get to fight the neighbor, Midorikawa almost felt bad when Narasaka, the second sniper in his squad, showed up and quickly confirmed than he hadn't been studying then dragged him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all for now lol. Not much too say, Yuma is hard to write for, and I'm almost entirely convinced Yoneya will never actually get to fight Yuma like he wants in canon or out. But if you by some miracle have decided to read this far please continue, because after all next chapter Yuma and Midorikawa go on their date ¬.¬


	4. Chapter 4

Midorikawa had done everything he could. That much he knew. Still, as he ran through his mental checklist of things he needed to be done, and thought of a million different scenarios (hardly any of them were good) in his head, he couldn't keep from panicking.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine!" He heard Izumi shout from the bushes. Midorikawa had arrived an hour early, yet somehow he still hadn't managed to lose Yoneya and Izumi. No doubt they didn't trust him to tell them any of the oh so important details, and had come to see for themselves. Although, Midorikawa honestly doubted that he would notice at all once Yuma showed up.

He leaned back into the park bench, staring up at the sky tinted with the orangey hues of a sunset and tried to calm down. Nothing he did seemed to work. As time passed, he was vaguely aware of Yoneya and Izumi moving to different locations, and running through some sort of secret agent role playing thing. Each was wearing sunglasses and a large hat, Yoneya had his hair down. Midorikawa supposed this was to disguise themselves, although with those two it was hard to tell sometimes.

Somewhere in the midst of his spacing out, his phone buzzed loudly in his pocket. Midorikawa frantically whipped it out, fumbling and trying not to drop it to read his message.

 

From: Yuma

On my way! =3=

 

A very strange rush of emotions ran through Midorikawa at that moment, leaving him feeling nervous, flustered, excited, and terrified all at once. He quickly shoved his phone into his pocket, tried to look as normal as possible, realized he hadn't responded, took his phone back out and quickly typed out something he though was 'alright', before shoving it back in.

Deep breath Shun, take a deep breath, he told himself, running a hand through his hair.

"Well well well, the big moments almost here!" Midorikawa almost jumped up at the sound of Izumi's overdramatic voice, tone loaded with sarcasm. Midorikawa had been so distracted that he hadn't noticed both the shooter and Yoneya were standing very close to him, and looking down on him in a very condescending way. 

While Izumi began circling Midorikawa, occasionally nodding, Yoneya leaned in close to inspect his face. Which, no, was most definitely not helping the current situation. A sly grin cracked on the attacker's face as he looked down at the sweater Midorikawa was wearing. "Oh, that sweater brings out the green in your eyes." Yoneya said, with a tone of voice so sincere he could've passed as an overly fond parent, had it been anyone else but he who said it.

"Guys, stop it." Midorikawa complained, "he's going to be here soon."

"He's here."

Yoneya and Izumi spun around, and Midorikawa quite literally jumped up from where he was sitting. Yuma was walking towards them, his face folded into his signature duck face. "So what's this 'alarm' about?" He asked.

"Alarm?" Midorikawa echoed.

"You sent me an alarm." Yuma said, holding up his phone. To Midorikawa's horror, the screen did in fact display a message sent by him reading 'alarm'.

"That-I meant to type alright!" He quickly clarified, waving his hands while he spoke. "Auto correct I guess."

"Auto correct?" The neighbor asked. Midorikawa nodded.

"Yeah. If you misspell a word, it'll automatically correct it for you, although sometimes it can be, well, wrong. Also if there's a certain word you type a lot it will start automatically filling in that word for you." He explained.

"I see, so that must be why when I'm texting Jin he'll sometimes reply with Bonchi." Yuma said, examining the word on the screen.

"Y-yeah, must be." Midorikawa answered, before immediately lighting up. "Wait, you text Jin a lot?"

"Yep," Yuma responded. "A lot of it's Border stuff though. Since we are in the same branch."

"Really? I should join Tamakoma." Midorikawa said, more to himself then anyone else. Yuma shrugged.

"Anyways, what are you two doing here?" Yuma asked Izumi and Yoneya.

"Nothing" the two of them responded in unison.

"And we're going right now, to give you two some privacy." Izumi added, clapping Midorikawa on the shoulder and running off.

"What was that about?" Yuma wondered aloud, watching them scuttle off. Midorikawa was suddenly very aware of the fact that he was alone with Yuma. He mentally counted to ten, to calm himself down. He'd prepared for this, he could do it.

"So, what do you wanna do?" He asked, slipping both hands behind his head, hoping he wasn't bright red and didn't look too awkward.

"Hmm, well, wanna grab something to eat?" Yuma asked, then grinned. "I know a good place."

\-----

Apparently, what Yuma considered to be a good place was the restaurant that Kageura Masato's family owned. Kageura was also in border, and was an attacker like Yuma and Midorikawa were. Although, he could come off pretty, well, harsh in Midorikawa's opinion. Midorikawa knew that most of this was a side effect of his side effect, but it didn't take away the intimidating air Kageura had to him.

"Welcome to, oh it's just you." Kageura said, as Yuma lead Midorikawa into the building.

"Hey, table for two please?" Yuma asked, raising his hand in greeting.

"Sit wherever." Kageura growled back, tossing two menus at them. "Two in one night, I swear." He muttered under his breath.

"Hm, what do you mean?" Yuma asked him, partially guiding them through people and tables to a booth. Kageura jerked his thumb behind him, motioning towards a group of four people, one girl and three guys.

"That idiots here." He said. Almost like he'd sensed Kageura talking about him, (and not the other way around), one of the boys, a blond kid with spiked up hair and a bit of a puppy dog face knocked over his glass of water. Kageura irritably threw down a stack of napkins at their table, telling him to 'clean it up yourself'.

"Thats..." Midorikawa began.

"Inukai." Yuma said quickly. "We might've picked a bad time to come."

"Yeah..." Midorikawa said, glancing over at Inukai and Kageura, who were in the middle of an argument over something no doubt completely pointless. The other three people at the table, the rest of Ninomiya squad, Midorikawa noted, had all decided to ignore them completely, and continue with their meal.

"So," Yuma began, setting his menu to the side. "What's on your mind." Midorikawa swallowed a gulp of water.

"You could tell?"

"That something was up? Yeah. It's written all over your face." Yuma replied, motioning towards his own face, which had gone back into it's default duck resembling expression.

Midorikawa glanced down hesitantly. He was beginning to feel very embaressed, even though he hadn't done anything embaressing. Yet. "Well it's just that, how do I say this," Midorikawa mumbled. "Recently I guess I've just been feeling, I don't know. Different? About you." It was around that moment that his voice decided to not work. Not that Midorikawa felt like any other part of his body was working either. Yuma sat in silence, waiting for him to continue. Midorikawa took a deep breath. "And honestly, I think-"

A loud ring interrupted him. Midorikawa's hand flew to where his phone was buzzing in his pocket, and immediately answered his call. "Hello? Yoneyan? Why are you-"

"Did you tell him?!" Came Yoneya's excited voice from the other end of the line.

"I, No! Besides, why are you calling me?" on the other line, Yoneya cursed loudly.

"I could've sworn it had happened. I thought that the shrimp's silence was his astonishment and realization of his unending love for you." Midorikawa immediately lit up bright led after Yoneya's... unnecessary comment, and ended the call.

Midorikawa buried his face in his hands. He could feel himself blushing uncontrollably, and was trying to do his best to cover his embarrassment, to make it so everyone would just stop seeing through everything he said or did. Although, with both Yuma and Kageura in close proximity, Midorikawa figured that was impossible.

"What happened?" Yuma asked. Midorikawa shook his head.

"Nothing."

There was a brief pause, an Midorikawa could feel the pressure of the silence beginning to build up. He was equally terrified and relieved when Yuma broke it.

"Want to tell me later?" Midorikawa nodded.

"Yeah."

"Alright. Then, let's get some food." Yuma answered, very enthusiastically at the idea of eating. Midorikawa brought his hands down from his face. After Kageura took both their orders, Yuma made a few attempts at conversation. Midorikawa of course, responded, but it wasn't long before both of them realized they were getting no where. Once their food arrived, Midorikawa gratefully used it as an excuse to remain silent.

After they were done, Yuma paid for both of them. "Don't come back!" Kageura shouted at them as they left, Yuma waving good naturedly back. 

"What terrible customer service." Yuma commented, as the two of them began walking to nowhere in particular. 

"Yeah." Midorikawa agreed. Not that he was in a stable enough mental state to be worrying about customer service and what not. I have to tell him, Midorikawa thought, knowing that he'd give up if he waited much longer. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling his chest expand and contract as he did.

"Yuma," Midorikawa said to get his attention.

"Hm?"

"There's something I need to tell you." 

"I know." Yuma said simply.

They walked in silence for a little while, every so often Midorikawa would inhale sharply, about to say something, but unable to bring himself too. Finally, he spoke.

"I love you." Three very simple words. It wasn't hard. It was so much easier then anything Midorikawa had expected. The rest of the words came out just as fast, tumbling over Midorikawa's lips before his brain had time to filter them.

"And in more of a way than as just a friend or rival. I don't know why but I can't seem to stop thinking about it. So I figured that I might as well say something. But I don't want to ruin our friendship at the same time, I mean you mean a lot to me so I hope at the very least we can stay friends but I had to say something."

There was a hitch in Yuma's breath that Midorikawa most definitely did not miss. Or it could've been his own, he couldn't tell. His legs were beginning to shake at this point, and he was certain that he was blushing everywhere. Although at this point he'd been so used to blushing that he supposed it didn't matter. 

"Wow, um, thanks...? I don't know what like, I should say I guess?" Yuma said, awkwardly. Almost immediately afterwards, there was a series of buzzing noises. Yuma whipped out his phone, eyes widening slightly in surprise as he scrolled through his messages.

Midorikawa felt his stomach drop through his ribcage. The response hadn't exactly been a no, but still... What were you expecting, idiot?

"Ok, I'm trying this again." Yuma declared, and just like that Midorikawa's attention immediately snapped into focus on what he was saying. "I love you too, please go out with me." He said in a very straightforward voice.

"Uh, you know how insincere that sounds, right?" Midorikawa replied, not that he wasn't completely blushy and giggly in a very strange unlike him sort of way. 

"Oh, yeah, I guess." Yuma said, and Midorikawa could've sworn he'd seen a slight pinkish tint rising to his cheeks although he was definitely hallucinating and should not be getting his hopes up. Mirdorikawa could use some work on listening to some of his inner voices.

"But I mean, I really don't. Know what to say that is." Yuma added, his eyes falling to the ground and yep Midorikawa was for sure hallucinating because he'd never seen Yuma drop eye contact with anyone before. "It's not like this has happened to me before, so I don't want to try and force any feelings or decide without really knowing. I'll need some time I guess." For once, Midorikawa saw Yuma taking a deep breath instead of him.

"But I'm willing to try this if you are." Yuma stuck out his hand, and raised his eyes to Midorikawa's. "So would you like to go out with me?"

Midorikawa was pretty sure Kageura must've spiked their food with something because there was no way this was happening. No way. Some other force must've been controlling his body when he nodded and said 'yeah', because there was no way that would've been possible for Midorikawa right now. 

Yuma grabbed Midorikawa's hand in his own, and grinned. "Alright, then." Midorikawa mumbled something unintelligent from his current daze like state. 

Midorikawa was only broken out of his seemingly trance like state when someone from a nearby bush yelled, "AT LEAST HUG DAMNIT!" Reality reeled in fast, like a slap in the face. No more spacing out. 

"Is that?" Yuma asked.

"Yoneyan and Izumin." Midorikawa groaned, all to aware of the fact that they had been watching from the bushes. Then, he grinned, because after everything, he'd managed to tell Yuma how he felt, and even better, he'd said yes. And what the hell, Yoneya and Izumi weren't going to stop Midorikawa from enjoying it.

"Hug!" Midorikawa agreed, jumping up onto Yuma and knocking him over.

"Oof," Yuma huffed, once Midorikawa landed on him, but he wasn't complaining. Midorikawa felt himself laugh a little, and Yuma's arms hesitantly wrap around his lower back. He didn't even care when he heard the telltale snap of a camera and a brief flash as a picture was no doubt being taken. For once in what had seemed like a long time, Midorikawa felt blissfully happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes the first actual interaction between Yuma and Midorikawa since this fic began lol only took me 4 chapters. Also I totally didn't post this when I should've, but I'll semi make up for it by posting 2 more chapters basically right now. I finally got around to writing chapter 7 too, don't you love how anxiety keeps you from doing anything? : ) Anyways, this is only just beginning, and I have a lot more planned and a lot not planned, so I'm just gonna kind of go with it for now. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Midorikawa woke up, rubbed his eyes once, twice, to clear away the dreary feeling sleep left in them.

"Awake again?" He heard a familiar voice call.

"Yeah." Midorikawa mumbled back. As his mind started to wake up, the events of last night, or possibly still tonight, he couldn't tell what time it was, came back to him. Shortly after Yuma and he had...started dating (it still felt unbelievable), they'd gone back to Yuma's house to watch movies. Somewhere in the middle of that, Midorikawa had dosed off. "What time is it?" He asked.

"About 2:00 am." Yuma answered him, eyes trailing from the television screen to meet Midorikawa's. Both of them blushed, and averted their eyes. Midorikawa yawned, then sat up.

"What were you doing when I was asleep? You weren't just watching me, where you?"

"No no," Yuma replied, shaking his head. "That'd be weird." Midorikawa nodded in agreement. "I started watching this movie, since well..." I can't sleep. Yuma mouthed and motioned with his hands, but Midorikawa would've understood anyways. He nodded to show he understood.

"What movie are you watching?" Midorikawa asked, repositioning a blanket over himself.

"Mulan." Yuma responded. "Chika said I should watch it sometime. I had nothing better to do, so I started it. Pretty good so far."

Midorikawa scooted closer to Yuma. "What part is this?" Yuma shrugged, but Midorikawa picked up on what was going on pretty quickly, once Commander Shang launched into his easily recognizable song.

"I made popcorn too." Yuma said, holding out a bag to him.

"Thanks." Midorikawa said, shoving a handful into his mouth and crunching down, feeling the warm buttery taste spread across the inside of his mouth. Until he tasted the burnt flavor, that is. "Did you burn this?"

"I might've." Yuma admitted, shrugging as Midorikawa desperately tried not to choke. "So popcorn isn't supposed to taste like that?"

"No." Midorikawa gasped, quickly gulping down water to get rid of the taste, but failing. He groaned. "I knew this place smelled weird, you're never going to get that out you know."

"Good thing I have this then." Yuma said, holding out a can of febreeze, then proceeding to spray it everywhere. Midorikawa sighed, knowing it was hopeless.

"Well, when the movies done, do you want to go upstairs?"

"Sure." Yuma replied, his eyes fixated on the screen. They continued watching in silence for a while.

"Can you detect lies through a screen?" Midorikawa blurted out. Yuma raised an eyebrow, but was silent for a minute, as though thinking it over.

"I can't usually. Definitely not with something animated like this. Maybe if there's real people actors, and the camera's at the right angle." He shrugged. "It just makes it more interesting, I guess."

"Mhmm." Midorikawa nodded in agreement, then fell quiet once again. They were reaching the climax, Mulan was about to begin her plan to take down Shan Yu, and neither of them felt like having a conversation over it. After the movie was over, Yuma switched the TV off and they sat in silence for a few moments.

"Soooo... what do you want to do now?" Yuma asked. Midorikawa yawned.

"Sleep." He answered sleepily, "Just not where it smells like burnt popcorn and air freshener.

"Alright then, let's go upstairs!" Yuma declared enthusiastically, jumping up from the couch and pumping his fist in the air. Midorikawa followed him, weaving in between the furniture to the stairs that groaned slightly under their combined weight.

The upstairs of Yuma's house was cramped, yet cozy. Because Yuma was the only one living there, it had a tendency to be cluttered. Straight in front of them was a bedroom, and if you turned a tight corner to the right, there was a small bathroom, consisting of only a sink and a toilet. The bedroom had creaky wooden floors, with a dresser shoved against the wall. A queen sized bed with slightly worn covers was in the middle of the room, the back shoved up against the wall. An old radiator was humming gently on the left side of the room, directly underneath a window with curtains drawn to keep out the night. Various objects, from clothes, to books, to food wrappers, and what looked like old forgotten homework lay scattered across the floor. Midorikawa stepped cautiously, not entirely sure if the floor was clean enough to walk on with bare feet.

Truthfully, Midorikawa wouldn't have minded staying awake for longer. But after everything he had done today, he found himself both physically and mentally exhausted. He buried himself in the comforters without hesitation. Soon after his head hit the pillow, he could feel the mattress sink a little as Yuma joined him.

"So, what are you going to do?" Midorikawa asked Yuma wearily. "Since like, you can't sleep and all that." Yuma shrugged. 

"I'll figure something out. Maybe just lie here with my eyes closed. It's not the same as sleeping but, well, it's as close as I can get."

Because Midorikawa was, really truthfully, an idiot, he decided to mumble. "Or you could cuddle me." Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, he regretted it, but sleepiness had completely and utterly destroyed what little filter he had.

"I...what?" Yuma stammered. Midorikawa blushed, and turned his face into the pillow.

"I mean, if you want. I don't know, do whatever." He murmured. And then it was too late for Midorikawa to do anything about the situation he'd just oh so wittingly placed himself in, because his eyes were already closed, and he could feel himself drifting off and losing the feeling in his body. It was then that Midorikawa fell asleep.

\---

Midorikawa woke up again with a piece of his hair stuck in his mouth, his legs hopelessly tangled in the sheets of Yuma's bed, and one of Yuma's arms wrapped around his torso. It took him a few moments to process things, before he immediately realized his current position and shot into a sitting position.

"Ah, sorry I was just..." Yuma stammered, his eyes flickering down to the twisted covers, and his arms wrapping around his legs. 

 

"No, it's ok." Midorikawa assured him, waving his hands quickly. They both blushed, not looking each other in the eyes for a very awkward and drawn out moment.

"What's it like? Not sleeping I mean." Midorikawa asked. Yuma shrugged.

"I don't really know. It's just like, I'm not tired, but I can lie there with my eyes closed and pretend to sleep like anyone else." Almost to demonstrate, Yuma let his eyelids fall closed. "It's not like sleeping, although it's just so hard to remember what sleeping feels like so I just don't know. I can enter this like, mental state though. My mind will just kind of wander wherever it wants, almost like a reflection of the day, except less reflective. More random 'what if' kind of thoughts, you know?"

Midorikawa nodded. There was something enticing about listening to Yuma speak when he was still on the verge of sleep, like he had seen completely different worlds, far beyond anything Midorikawa could even begin to imagine. Although, on some levels, Midorikawa supposed this was true. Yuma sighed, opened his eyes, and continued.

"Recently I've found that it can help keep away some of the more, well you know. Self destructive thoughts, that always seem to come whenever I'm alone at night. It's just so weird, being awake when no one else is, like the whole world's asleep but not me because I'm not human." Yuma looked down at his hands, and a small grin cracked on his face. "I can't even feel things like pain or warmth like other people do."

A strange series of sensations wrapped their way around Midorikawa's mind. It occurred to him once again, Yuma was different. He was a different person with a different life, and there was nothing Midorikawa could do to understand everything he had been through. "Oh..." He said, looking down.

"Ah, but don't worry about it." Yuma quickly reassured him. "I've gotten used to it." He smiled, so sincere and cheery it made Midorikawa's heart do a little jump, and he felt himself flush. "So? What's sleeping like?"

"Sleeping? I don't know..." Midorikawa trailed off, because how do you describe something that you just.. do? "You just kind of like, space out really hard, and then it's like you're not aware of anything. Sometimes you get dreams, which is really really weird. I don't even know." He laughed a little at his own strange description. "It's just kind of like, a break almost. From everything." He motioned at the room on everything. Yuma gave a soft sort of exhale that could've been a laugh, he didn't know.

"Seems legit." He said, tucking his hands behind his head. "So? What now? It's Saturday, and I don't have to be at Border until the evening."

"Me neither." Midorikawa agreed. He felt a little surprised at how quickly the conversation topic had changed, but then again, he wasn't the most sociable person. Even so, he still felt a little uneasy about everything Yuma had decided to share with him.

He wanted to be there for Yuma, but Midorikawa didn't know how to say it, nor did he want to try and force any type of conversation that could be awkward. Midorikawa sighed. "So is there anything you want to do?" He asked.

"Hmm." Yuma muttered, tapping a finger on his chin, thinking. He gave Midorikawa a sly grin. "Want to pay Yoneya and Izumi back for whatever they were doing last night?" Midorikawa grinned back. After all they'd put him through, (Regardless of any positive impact it'd had on his life), Midorikawa couldn't help but feel it was only fair to pay back the favor.

"Of course, where do we start?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is the end! (Of the chapter that is). Chika does seem like the kind of person who'd like Mulan, so I included it. Hopefully I'll be able to write her into this fic as well sometime...I don't know where though. I honestly didn't really know what I was doing at the end (tfw you decide to finish up the chapter in the middle of the night), but rereading it I think it turned out pretty ok. Maybe a little angsty, but I wanted to show maybe a more serious and less goofy side of Yuma, and I feel like I at least made an attempt at that. Also it's just occurred to me, but I don't think we've seen Yuma laugh in canon, at least not very much. Although we haven't seen very many characters laugh, but Yuma's like, one of the protagonists. I don't know exactly what's going to happen from here, I have a little side event that should take up the next two chapters or so involving a side pairing, but other than that I don't know what I'm going to do, so any suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

The plan was simple, with only one goal: Revenge. Honestly, Midorikawa was surprised that Yoneya and Izumi hadn't seen it coming, considering everything they'd forced him through in the past, and not just most recently, after attempting (And succeeding, which Midorikawa was grateful for, but they didn't need to know that) to set him up with Yuma.

Midorikawa ran up to greet them in the Border cafeteria like always. Of course, now that their personally dubbed 'master plan' had succeeded, they both burst into a flurry excited questions and comments. Midorikawa did his best to answer what he could, eventually distracting them with saying he had to show them something. Everything was going according to plan.

Since Kusakabe squad still wasn't back yet, (honestly at this point Midorikawa had a feeling they were shunning him), their operation room was the perfect place to set up a trap. With some help from Osamu, who had agreed to help them with their plan as long as 'things don't get too out of hand', they'd set up wires with Osamu's trigger, spider. Yuma had elaborately strung up a net positioned to fall right where their victims would after tripping over the wires. Sure, there were about a million things that could go wrong, but both Yuma and Midorikawa had no better ideas, and had nothing to lose.

So Midorikawa had raced through the hallways of the Border HQ, jumped over the wires in the doorway, and waiter for Izumi and Yoneya to catch up. Yuma was hiding nearby under one of the couches, ready to pounce once their prey had been caught.

"Hurry up!" Midorikawa hollered at them.

"We're coming, calm down!" Izumi shouted back, and sure enough they were. Trying to contain his excitement, Midorikawa counted down how many seconds it would be before Yoneya and Izumi crossed the threshold of the door. Three... two-

There was a loud noise as Yoneya crashed to the ground, tripping over the wires, a yelp as Izumi fell on top of him, and a clattering noise as the net fell over them both. Quick as a cat, Yuma sprang out from where he was crouched, and dragged the two of them in their woven prison over to the couch he had been hiding under. With nimble fingers, he tied the rope around them both, forcing their backs together, and secured the rope to the leg of the couch.

"What are you guys doing?" Izumi complained loudly.

"Midorikawa, I swear if, wait this is payback isn't it?"

"Yup!" Midorikawa stated boldly, placing his hands on his hims and puffing out his chest proudly. Yoneya groaned.

"Alright, you got us. What do you two want?"

Midorikawa stopped, and looked at him in confusion. Truthfully, he'd been so focused on getting their trap to work, he hadn't thought about what to do after their targets had been caught. One look at Yuma, and he could tell his...partner (? this whole 'dating' thing was going to take some getting used to), was just as conflicted as he was. Improvising, Yuma clapped his hands together to make his request.

"Information!" He declared with a nasty grin on his face.

"About what?" Izumi asked.

"Alright, no talking until I say you can talk!" Yuma demanded, bopping him on the head playfully.

"Ow, hey!" Izumi complained. Yuma looked back at Midorikawa.

"What do we want them to tell us?"

Midorikawa paused for a moment, contemplating. Then, an idea popped into his head, an idea so simple and easy yet so satisfying that Midorikawa couldn't resist. He leaned over to Yuma, and whispered it in his ear. Yuma grinned, nodding hastily in agreement.

"Well?" Izumi asked irritably, once Yuma and Midorikawa had both came out.

"So." Midorikawa began matter of factly, sitting on the couch opposite of where they were tied up and crossing his legs. Next to him, Yuma jumped over the back of the couch and did the same thing.

"Is there anyone, and I mean anyone, that either of you are particularly...fond of?" He continued, then flashed the both of them a gleaming smile.

"What? Oh, you little..." Yoneya growled, quickly realizing what they were doing.

"And what if there isn't?" Izumi asked innocently.

"You and I both know that was about as stupid as lies get." Yuma said without batting an eyes. Izumi and Yoneya both groaned in unison.

"Maybe if we don't tell them, they'll get bored and let us go?" Yoneya suggested hopefully. Midorikawa smiled, but said nothing. Regardless of what Yoneya thought, he wasn't going to let either of them go until he had at least a small bit of information.

"Hey Yuma, want to learn how to play checkers?" Midorikawa asked, rummaging through a bookshelf stacked high with board games and pulling out the correct box.

"Checkers?" Yuma echoed, then shrugged. "Sure." Yoneya and Izumi groaned again.

As the hours slowly but surely began to pass, Yuma got better and better at checkers, and Midorikawa could feel Izumi and Yoneya getting more and more fed up.

"I have defense duty today, can't you let me go?" Yoneya pleaded, after watching Yuma flip a red plastic piece in the air and declare 'king me'.

"Shhh, I'm trying to think." Midorikawa hushed him, desperately trying to figure out his next move. The game was simple enough that it was easy to learn, yet there was enough strategy involved that Yuma was now able to beat him almost every time. Midorikawa knew he was never one for strategy games. "Hey Izumin, what do you think my next move should be?" He called from across the room.

"I don't know, why don't you set me free so I can help?" He shouted back.

"Why don't you move that guy there?" Yuma pointed out, pointing at an open square that Midorikawa could move to after taking one of Yuma's pieces.

"Ah, thank you." Midorikawa replied, copying Yuma's directions. Without hesitation, Yuma immediately jumped one of his piece's over the one Midorikawa had just moved, and to his horror, Midorikawa noticed he'd be able to king that piece next turn. "Really?" He complained. Yuma gave him a shit eating grin and a thumbs up.

"I win this time."

"Damn, good game." Midorikawa said, clearing the rest of the pieces, when he heard a knock on the door. "Huh, wonder who that is?" He said, pushing himself up to answer the door. Yuma shrugged.

"Maybe someone came to save us?" Izumi piped up hopefully.

"Or deliver us to our deaths which is equally likely." Yoneya added darkly.

"Hello?" Midorikawa called as he answered the door.

"Hi, sorry, is Yosuke there?" It was Miwa, who was at the door.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Midorikawa said, stepping aside so he could enter.

"Thanks." Miwa replied, bobbing his head slightly in acknowledgment.

He stepped inside, then immidiately stopped. Midorikawa, currently realizing that the current situation was just the tiniest bit weird for anyone who had no idea of what was happening, suddenly felt a strong urge to hide. He jumped behind Yuma, more out of instinct than anything. Yuma didn't seem to mind though, as he was deeply immersed in building a tower out of the scattered checkers pieces.

"Yosuke, what are you doing?" Miwa sighed irritably.

"It's not like I want to be in this situation." Yoneya complained, jerking his head back at Izumi, who he was tied to.

"You do realize we have defense duty, right?"

"I know, but I've been busy getting tripped by middle schoolers and tied to a bullet brained moron for the past few hours." Yoneya retorted.

"Wow, I didn't know you felt so highly about me." Izumi said, faking a hurt look. "Are you not into our whole bondage thing?"

"Izumi there are children here." Miwa reminded him.

"Uh, sorry." Midorikawa jumped in, not entirely sure what was going on, but knowing it was the cause of Yuma's and his scheme. "This was my fault, we trapped them here." Miwa gave him a sideways glance.

"It's fine, it was probably Yosuke's fault anyways."

"Shuji!" Yoneya yelped in protest.

"Can you let them go now though?" Miwa asked. "We don't really have time for this."

Midorikawa was about to agree, when Yuma broke in. "Not until they tell us what we want."

There was a pause, where everyone's eyes flickered towards Yuma. Midorikawa's internal 'panic' dial ticked up a notch. He silently cursed Yuma's severe lack of social awareness. He must not have been the only one who sensed the dangerous atmosphere rising in the room though, because without hesitation, Yoneya looked him dead in the eye and said;

"Izumi totally thinks the sniper from Arashiyama squad is hot."

Everyone in the room seemed to take a breath, and let the information sink in. Izumi turned bright red in the face.

"I-bu, ok, so maybe I did!" Izumi spluttered. "But what about you? You've liked Miwa for at least a year now!"

"What? I, IzumI!"

Almost immediately, the two of them began yelling at each other. Midorikawa glanced over at Yuma, realizing that whatever they'd done, it had gone too far. Midorikawa got an uncomfortable kind of feeling burning in his stomach. "Um, guys!" He tried to speak up, but his voice trailed off and died quickly. Midorikawa bit his lip, this wasn't what he was trying to accomplish.

"Stop it. Both of you," Miwa said. Silence washed across the room. "We're on duty, we don't have time for this." He continued, quickly turning his back on all of them, so any emotion that could've been seen on his face or heard on his voice was lost. "Yosuke, I'll talk to you later." At that, he strode out of the room. After a moment, Yoneya wordlessly shuffled out after him.

For a long time after they left, Midorikawa, Izumi, and Yuma sat in silence. Eventually, Yuma cleared his throat.

"Wow..." He said. Midorikawa nodded in agreement, because he couldn't think of anything else to say. For a while longer, they sat in silence, their thoughts stewing loudly in their heads.

Guilt gnawed at Midorikawa's insides. He wished more than anything, that he could go back an hour in time, and just...not. Why did he think his prank was a good idea? Why couldn't he have just stopped? He'd probably just ruined Izumi and Yoneya's friendship, and just messed everything up.

A thousand thoughts were running through Midorikawa's head right now, none of them good. Although he knew if he were even the slightest bit a decent person, he would own up and apologize to Izumi and Yuma, even though that wouldn't matter because he was awful and they would both hate him forever anyways, he just couldn't. Because he was scared, or some other pathetic bullshit. So instead of any responsible action or someone other than himself, he just sat there. Every once in a while, he'd catch Yuma looking at him in a strange way, which he figured probably meant that Yuma hated him too. Which was of course, the only possible option since Midorikawa was awful and couldn't do a thing.

"Well...I'm going to go now." He heard Izumi say quietly. He mumbled something inaudible back, and listened to the sound of the door swinging closed.

For a while longer, Midorikawa sat hating himself and all the stupid life decisions he had made.

"Hey..." Yuma said, plopping down next to him on the couch. Midorikawa bit his lip, prepared for...whatever he was preparing himself for. "Things really became a mess, huh?"

"Yeah." Midorikawa replied, hating the raw tired sound his voice had. Yuma sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I guess I pushed this too far, didn't I?" Midorikawa looked up. Of course, it hadn't even occurred to him, Yuma had been in this with him. All these terrible things Midorikawa was feeling, wouldn't it make sense for Yuma to be feeling them too? Regardless of the fact that logic rarely did much in these kinds of situations, Midorikawa supposed it made sense.

"No, it's okay. I should be sorry too, I mean. I started this."

"It's both of our faults." Yuma sighed. "It's kind of like, you know." He shrugged. "After my dad died, I did somethings I'm not proud of. It's just, I guess you have to own up to it, I guess. Doesn't feel good, but it makes you feel better about yourself, if you know what I mean." Midorikawa nodded, signaling for Yuma to continue.

"I want to apologize to them, for, you know." Yuma shrugged. "But it's like, I can't do it alone." He looked up at Midorikawa sheepishly, waiting for him to say something.

"Yeah, I do to." Midorikawa agreed. Yuma gave him a shy grin.

"Alright, want to help me fix this mess?"

Midorikawa shifted his hand slightly, so that it was over Yuma's.

"Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone notice my pun in the beginning, Kusakabe squad shunning Midorikawa? Because his first name's Shun? I'm sorry I'll stop. Yeah...also that bit where I mentioned bondage in the middle was not meant to be taken sexually or anything, it was just a poor attempt at a joke. It was written late at night, and is the kind of joke I would make. I'm sorry if it ended up being too mature for this fic, plz don't report me thanks bye.  
> Anyways, if you can't tell, the next chapter or two is going to be a bit more serious, but it's not going to be like, complete angst? I don't know, but it will be more like the end of this chapter in mood, except hopefully without the over repetitive self hate. Again it was late at night so... it happened. I'm sorry.  
> Other than that though, I have officially caught up to what I posted on wattpad, hooray! Chapter 7 is halfway done and I'm liking it so far (personally I mean I'm kinda biased but meh), so please stay tooned for that. And as always, thanks for reading! : )


	7. Chapter 7

The brisk autumn air nipped at Midorikawa's exposed cheeks, turning them a rosy pink as he sat outside of the middle school. It had been three days since the 'incident' (which was what both Midorikawa and Yuma had agreed to call said event), and neither of them had spoken to Izumi or Yoneya since. To be fair, it was a busy season. Seemingly everyone had exams looming over their shoulders, and working at Border was not becoming any easier. In those days, Midorikawa and Yuma had carefully planned out how to apologize, with careful consultations from both of Yuma's team members, (as Midorikawa was still lacking his). Even with all of their preparation, Midorikawa couldn't help but feel jittery. 

As he heard the school door slam, he glanced up. Yuma was walking out of the school, his round race buried beneath a brilliantly colored orange scarf, which clashed horribly with his purple sweatshirt. Midorikawa tried not to notice, instead focusing on the plastic grocery bag swinging loosely in his hands.

"Sorry I'm late." Yuma apologized, casually raising a hand in greeting, then letting it fall back nuzzled into the pocket of his sweatshirt. "Osamu made me stay after to work on trig. He also made me wear this scarf," Yuma said, motioning towards the orange fabric wrapped around his neck. "Doesn't he know I can't get cold?" Yuma asked, even though Midorikawa could tell that he had no intentions of taking the scarf off. 

"It's fine." Midorikawa said, meeting the intense stare of Yuma's eyes. Both of them blushed, and Midorikawa's eyes darted back too the grocery bag. "Did you get the stuff?"

Yuma half raised the bag up, glancing in at it's contents. "Yeah." He reached in and pulled out an orange. "These things aren't cheap." He commented.

"Sorry," Midorikawa apologized. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay for half of them?" Yuma waved his hand dismissively.

"It's okay, I have far more money on hand than you do anyways." Which certainly was true. 

"Anyways," Yuma continued. "Where should we try and meet him"

"Usually he's in his operation rooms around now, we could try there first, and if not then someone in his squad might know where he is." Midorikawa suggested.

"Good idea." Yuma agreed, nodding triumphantly. "Alright, lead the way, partner." He said, winking and snapping his fingers at Midorikawa. The motion was so ridiculous that Midorikawa actually stopped in his tracks to stare at him.

"What?"

Yuma, apparently becoming aware of how strange what he just did was, blushed shoved his hands into his pockets. "I mean, that's how Osamu keeps referring to us anyways. Partners, I mean." He mumbled self consciously into the folds of his scarf.

Midorikawa chuckled. "Mikumo doesn't have any experience in this field either, you don't need to try and follow his advice all the time."

"Fair point." Yuma conceded. As they started walking, he added, "What should we call each other though?"

"Hmmm" Midorikawa hummed to himself. Truthfully, he had been wondering the same thing. Things like, 'partner', or 'boyfriend', or even 'bae' or 'babe' just felt weird and uncomfortable from his mouth. Maybe a part of that was that it really hadn't sunk in yet, but Midorikawa felt no desire to be one of those over the top cheesy couples that he personally associated with those terms. "Whatever you want is fine I guess." He concluded, glancing at Yuma for approval. "How about you?"

Yuma paused for a moment to consider this, his eyes focusing on nothing, and his lips pursing together in a way that made Midorikawa think 'cute'. "I think just calling me by my name is fine." Yuma said confidently, a small smile cracking on his lips. "I've been 'Yugo's son', or a 'neighbor', or even just my team's ace for so long, it's kind of nice to know when you're talking to someone that you wont hear any of that."

Midorikawa sat thinking on this for a moment. For him, he'd never really been anything other than 'Midorikawa', so he couldn't understand how Yuma felt. 

"Names it is then," he declared grinning. Yuma smiled back.

"Glad we could agree on this, partner." Yuma responded, snapping again to relive the awkward hilarity of the previous moment. 

"Stop it." Midorikawa laughed, grabbing the hand Yuma was pointing at him with and wrapping it in his own. 

Their conversation had helped fill up what would've been an awkward silent walk to Border headquarters. Now that it was over, silence weighed heavily over them as they contemplated what they needed to do.

For all the preparation they did, Midorikawawas still nervous as hell. So many thoughts he just couldn't keep down kept swishing around in his head. What if their apology didn't work? What if Izumi and Yoneya hated him for it? What if he had ruined their relationship? Somewhere in the midst of his freaking out, he felt Yuma squeeze his hand. 

"It'll be fine, you'll see." He reassured him. "I talked to Jin about it, I knew that would help you calm down." Midorikawa squeezed Yuma's hand back.

"My side effect tells me so." He quoted with a smirk. Yuma smiled, and together they walked into the Border headquarters.

\--- 

Click, click, click.

The character on the screen moved and attacked a different way with every touch of the controlled. Izumi slid a glance over at the person sitting next to him, his squad's operator. Kunichika Yuu was his age, although she had a bit of a baby face. Her bright, brown eyes were narrowed in concentration as she quickly punched in combos for her character to follow. Izumi's vision snapped back to the screen, as he helplessly watched the green health bar above his character slide lower, and lower, until it was completely depleted. 

"Damnit," He groaned, sinking into the couch as Kunichika cheered over her victory (How was her character still at over half health?!). "Good game."

"Oh really?" Kunichika spoke pointedly. "You can't do better than that?" Izumi prickled at her words. She smirked. 

"Want another round?" She challenged, tossing her messy auburn hair over her shoulder. A dangerous glint had risen in her eyes, sparking violently as Izumi's hand fell back over his controller. No, he really didn't, although saying so to Kunichika wouldn't do much god. 

"Hey, Izumi!" They heard Tachikawa holler from another corner of the messy operations room. "Go make Yuiga shut up, would you?"

"On it!" Izumi yelled back, pushing himself up and throwing his controller down next to Kunichika. "Go knock yourself out." He told her, grateful for an excuse to not loose any confidence in his gaming abilities.

"Aw, fine." She pouted. "Send Yuiga in when you're done, I want to try a different character than usual and I want someone relatively easy to crush." 

"Alright." Izumi agreed, shuddering. Although it was hard to feel bad for someone as annoying as Yuiga, there was a certain ruthlessness Kunichika acquired when she was gaming that you didn't want to subject anyone to.

Weaving among the various discarded assignments that lay scattered across the room, Izumi waved at Tachikawa, who was busy stuffing Mochi into his face, before peeking out into the hallway. 

"Like I said," Yuiga huffed, running a hand through his shoulder length dark hair. "I can't let some kids into the number one A ranked squad's room. Now shoo." Izumi sighed inwardly, and prepared to drop kick him as per usual, when he caught a glance at who he was talking to. Almost instinctively, the little voice in his head that says 'Oh, shit', for him when he does something stupid piped up. Yuma and Midorikawa were standing in front of Yuiga, Midorikawa desperately trying to argue his way through Yuiga's stubbornness. Izumi was about to duck back in and make Kunichika tell Yuiga off for once, when Yuma caught him peeking, and stared straight into his eyes. 

Whether it was entirely conscious or not, Izumi had been avoiding Midorikawa, Yuma, and Yoneya since the...event that had happened three days ago. Sure, it wasn't exactly the responsible thing to do, but Izumi had never exactly been good at doing the responsible thing. Avoiding Yuma and Midorikawa had been fairly simple, since they rarely crossed paths without trying. Yoneya on the other hand, had been far harder to avoid. Since they were in the same class, and usually joined at the hip, it had been quite obvious when they stopped talking to each other. One way or another, Kunichika had found out about what happened, and Izumi had received a lecture about being the responsible one while getting his butt handed to him in her favorite fighter game. Izumi sighed. He knew Kunichika was right, he just didn't particularily want to deal with his problems at this given moment.

"Hey, Yuiga!" He yelled, and the gunner jumped in surprise.

"Izumi, can you tell these-" 

"Yeah yeah, they're here to see me. Now scram." Izumi said harshly, not feeling in the best mood for coddling the weak link in his team. "Kunichika wants a favor from you." He could almost see the terror building up in Yuiga's eyes before he scrambled into the operations room, leaving Izumi alone with the two younger boys in the hallway. None of them spoke for a few elongated moments.

"So." Midorikawa began, and Yuma nodded, thrusting a plastic bag he was carrying towards Izumi. He peaked inside, and couldn't help but crack a smile. Oranges, his favorite. 

"Why don't we talk somewhere else?" Izumi offered, all too wary of the eavesdroppers in his squad lying in wait for any lick of gossip they could get.

"My squad room's open." Midorikawa offered, which wasn't a surprise to anyone. The three of them made their way to the Kusakabe squad operations room in silence.

After walking into the empty operations room, Izumi flopped onto the couch he had sat on three days ago, and sighed. Yuma and Midorikawa quickly filed onto the other couch. Izumi could tell that they were trying hard not to look at him. He could feel the situation becoming increasingly more uncomfortable by the second.

"So? What did you want to talk about?" He asked, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. Yuma and Midorikawa glanced at each other, then both started talking at the same time. 

"We-"

"So-"

Both of them stopped immidiately, in a way that was almost comical. After another awkward pause, Midorikawa picked up.

"We just wanted to apologize. For...what we did that one time." He said softly, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, and keeping his eyes trained on what must've been a very intriguing lamp. "We took things out of hand, and that probably forced you to do something you wouldn't normally do." Midorikawa lowered his head, Yuma quickly following his example. "We're sorry."

"Sorry." Yuma repeated numbly. 

Izumi thought this would happen. So much for being the mature one like Kunichika had suggested. "No, it's okay." He heard himself say, "I get that, it was just a stupid mistake, right? I make those a lot." 

"Oh.." Midorikawa mumbled, and for the first time and three days, he looked at Izumi in the eyes.

"But that said," Izumi continued,"I'm still mad. I mean, I understand what you did, and why you did it. And I can forgive you for it too, especially since you bothered to appolagize. But it was still a bad thing to do, and could hurt other people, not just me."

"Yeah...I know what you mean." Midorikawa responded, his eyes slipping down to glance at the table. Silence perpetrated the room for a little while longer, before Yuma spoke up.

"What about Yosuke?" He asked monotonously. If Midorikawa was awkward, Izumi thought, then Yuma made up for all of that with his own intensity. The question Izumi himself had been postponing for as long as he could had come at last. 

"I don't know." Izumi admitted. "I guess I've been avoiding him since," He shrugged. "You know, that." 

"Do you think he'd be mad at you for it?" Midorikawa asked. Izumi shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess it depends on what happens. I'll talk to him after he's sorted things out with Miwa."

"Yeah, that might be best." Yuma agreed, and Midorikawa nodded. 

After another couple of moments, Izumi stood up, and made his way to the door.

"Izumin." He heard Midorikawa call after him. "Things will work out just fine." And then Midorikawa did it, his trademark puppy dog smile. It was always impossible to stay mad at him when he smiled like that, it felt like you were yelling at a little kid. Which, in perspective, he was. Sure, he was only a few years younger than Izumi, but there was so much that could happen in those years. Izumi's eyes drifted to Yuma, who he noted was looking at Midorikawa entranced as if he'd seen him before but couldn't quite place where. Izumi cracked a smile on his face.

"Thanks, Midorikawa, Yuma."

As the door slid closed behind him, Izumi let out a breath he'd been holding. Sure, he didn't feel great, but he guessed he did feel a little better. Down the hall, he heard Kunichika's passionate shouts after she'd no doubt utterly demolished Yuiga again, and decided not to go back quite yet. 

As he continued down the corridor, he saw a familiar figure come into view.

"Hey Izumi, want a fried rice cracker?" Jin offered, holding out a half empty bag. Izumi dutifully took one, listening to the satisfying crunch and salty flavor that spread across his mouth when he bit down on it.

"So, how are things going?" Jin asked, casting Izumi a knowing sideways glance that always catches you off guard. 

"Eh." Izumi replied, taking another fried rice cracker and popping it in his mouth as an excuse not to talk. Jin laughed. 

"I talked to Tsukimi earlier today." Jin said the laughter draining from his face, while subtly implying that he knew about everything that was going on. Although, Izumi wouldn't have doubt that he'd have known regardless of if he was told or not. 

"And?" Izumi asked. Jin sighed.

"Just going to make sure things are headed down the right path." He answered. "I was going to find you but it looks like you sorted it out on your own." 

"Yeah, kind of." Izumi responded finishing the rest of the cracker he was currently eating. "Jin."

"Yeah?"

"Are Yosuke and Miwa going to be alright?" 

Jin sighed another knowing sigh. "I'm not sure yet. I'll do everything I can to help, but I'm just not sure." When he saw Izumi's skeptical glance, he chuckled. "What? Don't look so concerned. Things always work out somehow in the end." With that, he offered Izumi one last rice cracker, before continuing to walk in the direction he was initially headed. 

"Things will turn out fine, don't worry." He called, and then halted. "Oh, one last thing? You might want to go help out your captain." 

With a slightly shuddering breath, Izumi turned back in the direction of his squad's operations room. He just hoped he wold make it in time to spare Tachikawa from his operator's wrath.

\---

The Border hallways were too damn bright. A glaring bluish light stared down from the many paneled ceiling lights lining the ceilings of each and every Border corridor. It made it especially difficult, Miwa thought, to close his eyes and try and shut out the world for one god damned second, when the back of his lids where glowing with a multitude of iridescent colors. 

He exhaled sharply through gritted teeth, his breath making a hissing noise as it escaped. What was he going to do? Miwa's eyes shifted anxiously down the hallway, desperately trying to find something to settle on so he could disassociate and not think about what had happened three days ago. 

For all the faked maturity he'd put up that day, he hadn't talked to Yosuke since hearing those words come from Izumi's mouth. Part of him was screaming to just get it over with, but that probably came from the part of his brain that valued logic and reason more than it's counterparts. It was just... Miwa didn't know how to put his feelings into words. He cared about Yosuke, a lot. That much was clear to him, since he was so obviously worried about what would happen between them. But... romance? Miwa wasn't even sure how that might feel, yet alone if it was indeed how he felt about Yosuke. But the struggle was how to put that into words without hurting Yosuke's feelings, or ruining whatever friendship they had. If they had any.

Miwa had been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the click of boots on the ceramic floor tiles creeping closer. Instinctively upon seeing who it was, his brows knit together into a grimace. Jin.

"Hey Shuuji, want a fried rice cracker?" Jin offered, waving merrily. If he was here... Miwa scowled.

"What do you want." He asked offhandedly, knowing perfectly well even without a side effect what Jin wanted to talk about. Jin popped a cracker in his mouth, then leaned casually against the wall beside him. 

"I heard from Tsukimi." Jin replied, his features softening. "You're really freaking out, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

Miwa had nothing to say, so he remained silent, glowering at the warm caring expression Jin was giving him. He really didn't want to talk to him right now. Or ever. Maybe it was just something in the way he was looking at him, or the way he always had to know every single thing, but Miwa almost always had an urge to punch the man in his perfect face. Admittedly, Jin wasn't even in the wrong. Hell, he was almost always helping anyone he came across, regardless of his own personal health. But there was just something about him that pissed Miwa off. A lot pissed him off nowadays.

Jin, noticing that Miwa hadn't spoken, continued. "You can't avoid him forever."

"I know." Miwa said, not caring to look up.

"When are you going to talk to him?" 

Miwa shrugged.

"Are you worried that your squad will fall apart because of this?" He shrugged again.

"Are you worried about how other people will see you because of this?" He shook his head.

"Are you worried about losing your friend over this?" He'd hit the nail on the head. Miwa whirled around, sharp eyes meeting soft blue ones. 

"Can you just mind your own damn business for once?!" He snarled. The only flicker of hurt that crossed Jin's face was a quick twitch of his brows. Miwa lowered his gaze. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"Thanks." Jin replied. 

An awkward silence rose in the hallway, and Miwa shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he should say something, or if he should just enjoy it while it lasted.

Jin sighed. "Shuuji." Miwa glanced up. "Just be honest with him," Jin said, smiling softly. "That's the best thing you can do." And Miwa nodded ever so slightly, acknowledging what the older agent had said, before removing his gaze and crossing his arms protectively over his chest, signaling that the conversation was over. Jin left without another word.

Be honest? How was he supposed to do that when he himself didn't even understand how he felt?

\---

Yoneya strode down the street, dull clouds casting a gloomy feel on the afternoon. He cast a glance down at the phone in his hand, the screen bright and flashing his most recent conversation at him:

Yosuke: Hey, can you meet me in the park?

Shuuji: Ok

What a brilliant start, he though sarcastically. Yoneya's heart raced, from more than just walking fast, as he crossed the street and stepped onto the sidewalk. He's arrived. His eye's flickered nervously across the grass, scanning for a familiar face. Had he gotten here first? (Unlikely, Yoneya had an unfortunate habit of being late to every given thing he could be late to). No, there he was. Sitting on a bench shadowed by a few trees, wearing the same scarf he always wore. Yoneya walked up to him, somehow managing not to trip in the process. 

"Hey," he said awkwardly. Miwa looked up, and nodded. 

There was a pause, as the whining of the crickets somewhere in the background became crystal clear.

Yoneya sighed, and said, "We need to talk."

Miwa gave him an unreadable look, before replying.

"Yes, we do." 

Yoneya sat down next to him on the bench, leaning back until his back hit the rough wooden back. There were a few moments in which neither of them said anything, and in the next they both inhaled, like they were both about to speak. Yoneya paused, waiting for Miwa to speak. However, Miwa was evidently doing the same. Yoneya felt his face heat up. "You go first."

"That's okay, you can." Miwa replied, his eyes slowly lifting to meet Yoneya's. Yoneya blushed harder. His eyes fell to the ground, and he started half swinging his legs, half kicking the ground in an odd sort of nervous habit he'd never been able to break. 

"Well, I guess I just want to say I'm sorry. For putting you in a situation like this, I mean." He glanced quickly at Miwa, before continuing, eyes fixated on the ground. "I never wanted you to know how I felt, because of, well." He made a vague gesture with his hand. "This."

Miwa hadn't said anything yet. He forced himself to continue over the silence. "I just want to say, that I understand no matter what you say. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, so I guess if you're mad, or don't want to be friends or something that-" He dropped his hand onto his lap. "That's your decision, I guess."

There was a pause, in which Miwa was studying him very intently. Yoneya carefully raised his gaze to match Miwa's. 

"Yosuke, I'm not mad." He said at last. His throat bobbed, before he continued. "I just..." Miwa exhaled sharply. "I don't know. All this time, I've been worried that you didn't really like me as a friend. And now," his eyes fell on his lap. "I just don't know."

Yoneya was speechless. "You thought I didn't like you?"

Miwa shrugged. "You've had to deal with me all this time. I figured it was only a matter of time before you got tired of me. Now I guess I know that was stupid." Yoneya stared.

"Why would you think that?"

"Yosuke, I don't know. I just... I just think these things." Miwa said, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I really care about you, okay? But I don't know if it's in a friend way, or a romance way. I just, I mean, I want us to be friends. For now at least." It was better than anything Yoneya had expected. 

"That's fine, like I said, I'm willing to do whatever you want. And maybe it's because I love you," Yoneya swallowed, he had finally said it. "But I care about you either way." Miwa nodded.

"Friends for now, right?"

"Agreed." Yoneya stuck out his hand, expecting Miwa to shake it. Miwa stared at it for a moment.

"Can I..." He began, glancing down. Yoneya nodded.

"Sure." He said, then almost fell backwards, both from surprise, and the force of Miwa pressing himself against him, and wrapping both arms around his neck. 

"Thanks for not hating me." Yoneya heard him whisper in a way that felt like his voice was on the verge of cracking. Yoneya cracked a smile, pressing his hands into Miwa's lower back.

"Yeah, you too." Miwa released Yoneya, and stepped back, looking embarrassed. Yoneya couldn't help but laugh. "That's not like you, Shuuji." Miwa sighed, and turned away. 

"Whatever, Yosuke." But Yoneya caught the hint of a smile that played on his lips. 

A small vibration in his pocket diverted his attention to his phone buzzing. A notification flashed on the screen.

Tsukimi: Remember, we have defense duty this evening. 

Yoneya smiled, then quickly typed back:

Yosuke: We'll be there

He shoved his phone back in his pocket, before casting a glance at the fading hues of day and strolling off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I...totally forgot that I started publishing here oops. I'm sorry... This was late...I did my best...   
> Anyways, this concludes the kind of mini 2 chapter arc thing. I had initially planned for this fic to reach 12 chapters or so, but I'm certain that's not going to happen, and I'm going to end it after another chapter or two. If you did notice, I wrote from 4 different perspectives, which was something new I'd wanted to try for a while. I will write Kusakabe squad in once they appear in canon, it should happen soon. Anyways, thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah um so this gets kinda angsty, and there's some implied suicidal thoughts, so if that's going to be an issue please don't force yourself to read it. Also I wrote this in three hours, haven't edited it, and might actually delete this chapter or go back and change it later, I just can't stand to leave this story unupdated for so long. Also I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in so long. I don't want to use the mental health excuse again but like if anyone wants to take my OCD it's free I'll give you like 10$ for the meds to. I'm kidding, but thank you for reading this! I wouldn't have gotten this out without support

The blustery winter breezes had just began to subside. It was still chilly outside, so that you couldn’t step out without a coat, but nonetheless it felt good to go outside without having your cheeks ripped apart by freezing winds. The sun had begun making more regular appearances as well. Perhaps too regular.

Midorikawa stepped out of Border headquarters, holding a hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun. He quickly glanced around, before spotting Yuma’s distinct white hair and short stature. He felt his face grow lighter, and ease into a smile. “Hey,” he piped in greeting. 

Yuma glanced up from his phone, and returned the smile. “What’s up?” Midorikawa shrugged.

“Not much I guess. Yoneyan and Izumin are talking again.” 

“That’s nice,” Yuma remarked, glancing back down at his phone. “Did things work out between Yoneya and Miwa?”

“Yeah,” Midorikawa replied. “I mean, they’re all friends again, and it seems like everything worked out.”

“Hm.” 

Midorikawa glanced at Yuma’s phone, watching him type something out. “What’re you doing?” He asked curiously. 

Yuma tore his eyes from his phone. “Nothing really, just talking with Osamu.” 

“Cool, anything in particular?” 

Yuma shook his head repeatedly. “I- no, it’s nothing,” He replied quickly. 

Midorikawa shrugged. He had the feeling Yuma wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he didn’t have any means of knowing. He decided not to prod Yuma any further, at least not now. 

Suddenly, a gust of wind ripped through the street, sending a whistling sound through the open air and through the crumbled buildings. Midorikawa shivered. “Aren’t you cold?” He asked Yuma. 

“I don’t get cold,” Yuma remarked, perhaps a bit more harshly than Midorikawa was used to. Something was definitely up. 

“Oh, right…” Midorikawa said, then stared at the ground. Neither of them said anything for a while. “Well, it’s getting late,” Midorikawa said, breaking the silence. “Plus, I’m cold.” Yuma shrugged. “I’m gonna head home,” Midorikawa continued, “Do you want to walk with me?”

Yuma shook his head. “Sorry, I’m waiting for someone.” 

“Alright, see you later then!” Midorikawa called over his shoulder, waving as he turned to walk away. 

“Bye” Yuma replied, staring at his phone again. Hesitantly, Midorikawa left.

Yep, something was definitely up. For all of his normal enthusiasm, Yuma seemed drained, unresponsive. Part of Midorikawa was screaming at him to run back and ask what was wrong, yet he kept walking. Everyone has off days, and Midorikawa figured Yuma probably needed some space at the moment. Even If Yuma had a bigger issue, he would be able to tell tomorrow when they saw each other. Then, Midorikawa would address it. But for now, he would wait. Surely nothing terrible could happen before tomorrow, right?

At least, he hoped so.

 

\---

Yuma felt bad about pushing Midorikawa away, he really did. It was just… Well he didn’t know how to feel anymore. For a moment, he’d forgotten all about all of this.. Whatever he was. Forgotten that he was a ticking timebomb, and that the least he could do was restrict the casualties. It had happened last night, somewhere past one in the morning. Yuma had been lying on his bed, letting his mind wander, when one glance at his ring sent memories bubbling to the surface, ripping at his mind. He’d lain there, unable to move, letting the dark silence of the night swallow him whole. It was calming, oddly calming, that one day, perhaps soon, Yuma would die, and that would be it. End of story. He didn’t know how he’d made it through the night, or how he’d made it through the day, yet somehow he did. God, everytime Osamu had talked to him… Yuma felt awful, thinking about what his death would do to him. Felt awful for even feeling relieved at the thought.  
So Midorikawa really had come at a bad time. Yuma just couldn’t bring himself to talk with him, not while he still wasn’t sure how to think of him.

Yuma glanced at the time on his phone. He guessed it was about time to start heading back. He walked, perhaps a tad slower than usual down the street to Tamakoma headquarters. When he got there, the smell of curry stewing hit his nose, making his mouth water. Yet, Yuma couldn’t bring himself to eat, so he excused himself to his room, and laid there in the dark for what felt like the longest time in his life.

When Yuma finally decided to get up, it was dark outside. A feeling of paranoia wrapped itself around him. He couldn’t stay here any longer.  
Step by step, Yuma made his way to the rooftop, to look at the stars, maybe to calm himself. A cool breeze hit his face, gently brushing his hair back as if to say, it’ll be alright. Yuma almost screamed at it to shut up. Almost.

He didn't know what was wrong with him. I mean, sure, he'd had thoughts and worries like these before, but he'd been better lately, especially after coming to Japan. Yet, he couldn't just shove the thoughts down like normal, instead they grabbed him by the hands and dragged him to their own place. Yuma hated not being in control.

He sighed draping himself over the railing. He could see the light of the stars shimmering on the river’s surface, the spring frogs croaking gently in the background. The scene looked so calming, so relaxing, it was a wonder Yuma could still feel so anxious. Maybe if he jumped from the roof, he’d fuse with the relaxing scene. Yuma wondered if maybe that would be easier after all.  
“Nice night out isn’t it?” Yuma turned around to see who interrupted his thoughts. 

“Jin.” Jin smiled, waving a hand at Yuma. He moved to lean against the railing next to Yuma.

“So…” Jin began, but let the rest of the words fall out of his mouth. Yuma realized, he was waiting for him. Of course he was, that wasn't a surprise to Yuma. 

“Jin.” He said, to grab his attention.

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you a question?” Jin’s eyes linger a moment longer than felt normal, before he sighed and resumed staring at the river.

“Go ahead,” Jin replied.

“I-” But the rest of the words got caught in Yuma’s throat. What was he doing? Yuma opened his mouth to say 'Can you see me dying?' But the words wouldn’t come out. He shook his head. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know.” 

Jin didn’t reply, only reached out a hand, before resting it on Yuma’s head. He let it lay there for a moment, before giving Yuma a half smile, and leaving without a word.

Yuma couldn’t know, he didn’t want to know. He didn’t know what he’d do if Jin had said it was soon. Yuma sighed, and resigned himself to leaning on the railing, letting his arms dangle over the side, and wondered. Wondered when he would die, wondering if it would happen in a week, a month, or maybe even tomorrow.

Then, somewhere deep inside, Yuma felt something inside him snapping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry


	9. Chapter 9

For the longest time, Yuma had been alone. After his dad had died, he’d put up walls around people he would normally consider friends. Maybe a part of him had been confused, and a little bit scared. Maybe he was just hurting a lot. But Yuma isolated himself and fought for three long years, completely alone. 

Completely alone wasn’t accurate. He’d had Replica, and for what it was worth, that was enough to cover up the hole Yugo had left. It didn’t fill in the hole, merely make it unnoticeable. Even late at night, when everyone else was asleep, Replica had been there to talk about anything and everything. But now, Replica was gone, and the nights were all the more lonely.  
When he’d first come to Japan, Yuma was lost in some strange bliss. For the first time in three years, he was really happy. The hole might as well not have been there, Osamu, Midorikawa, and many many others greatly making up for it. It was nice, to not be constantly at war, to be able to relax and have fun. Nice to laugh at dumb jokes and just be close to people. He’d been hesitant at first, but Yuma really liked living in Japan. Yet, somehow it hardly mattered now.

For all that it was worth, Yugo was gone for good, and it was Yuma’s fault. With Replica gone, he was back to being so painfully alone at night. For the first time since it’d happened, Yuma felt himself being crushed with grief for his dad’s death. And overwhelmed at the possibility of his own. 

So Yuma began to push back at his peaceful life in Border. He felt almost as if he was floating away, distancing himself from everything it contained, which seemed all so trivial now. He had let himself forget that he would die, and this was merely him paying the price. 

Yuma rolled over, brought back to his surroundings, and wished his body was capable of sleep.

\-----------

“You want to talk?” 

Osamu nodded. It was midday, and they’d just gone over their team’s strategy for the next rank wars. Usami and Chika had both left, leaving Yuma and Osamu alone in the room.

“Kuga,” Osamu began, his voice so overwhelmingly full of compassion that Yuma almost cried on the spot. “What’s been going on lately?”

Yuma swallowed heavily. “Not much,” he lied, dropping Osamu’s gaze. He didn’t want to have Osamu have to worry about him. 

“That’s a stupid lie.” Yuma felt his face heat up, hearing his own phrase used against him. Osamu sighed. “Kuga, we’re friends right?”

Yuma frowned. “Of course.”

“Then, why are you distancing yourself from me? From everyone?” Yuma felt his throat tighten.

“It’s to protect you Osamu,” he whispered. Osamu ran his hand through his hair. 

“Kuga, I don’t need you to protect me, that’s why I-”

“So then it’d be okay if I died?” Yuma interjected, his voice rising. Osamu froze.

“You keep saying it’s okay, and that you’ll handle everything, and I get it okay? That’s who you are. But that doesn’t change the fact that I could die at any second, and yet I’m just trying to minimalize the damage I leave when it happens, and you’re trying to stop me? That’s just too unfair! You’re always trying to help people, but you can’t help me, I’m going to die one day and leave everything behind, and then what? Just laugh and say it’s okay? Osamu, I- I” Yuma felt his voice breaking in his throat, as hot, painful tears spilled over his cheeks. 

“I hate this, I hate it. I never cared if I lived or died before I came here, and now all of a sudden I’m in so many people's lives, and there’s so much to do and I-” He stopped and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jacket, the rough fabric burning his skin. “Osamu, I don’t want to die.”

He completely broke down then. He’d barely cried after Yugo died, he’d kept all his emotions perfectly under control for three years and yet… 

Yuma was deftly aware of Osamu pulling him in close, and wrapping his arms tightly around him as if that could somehow keep him alive forever. Yuma’s body couldn’t feel any warmth and yet, he was strangely okay with that. They sat there like that for a long, long time.

“You’re not going to die.” Osamu whispered. “We’re going to make the expedition team, and find Chika’s friend and brother. Then, we’ll get back and find a way to keep you alive. So until then you’re not going to die, it’s an order.” 

Yuma laughed emptily. “What kind of order is that?” 

“My order,” Osamu proclaimed. “As your captain, and your friend.”

Yuma gave him a weak smile. “I guess I have no choice then, huh?”

“You don’t. So stop trying to distance yourself from everyone.” 

“Mhmm, I will.” Yuma let his eyes fall closed, and rested his head on Osamu’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize either,” Osamu ordered. Yuma gave him a faint laugh. 

“Osamu, you stupid demon of helpfulness.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I bet you all thought I wasn't going to update this again it's been so long. I intended for this to be the last chapter since I am literally the worst and can't keep things updated regularly, but it looks like there's going to be one more after this, sort of like a resolution for Yuma and Midorikawa because believe it or not, that's who this fic was originally about lol. Anyways, this felt like it ended on a lot happier of a note than the last chapter. I'll try and crank the next one out quickly although knowing me it will take 50000 years oops. As always, thank you for reading, and stay tooned one last time!


	10. Epilogue

The night sky was littered with an excess of stars, glowing faintly behind the sky blurred by city lights. Crickets lulled the place into a dream, only a distant breeze stirring the people outside from their enchantment. Next to him, Yuma sighed, his breath fading into the muggy air. 

“You said you wanted to talk?” Midorikawa asked, shifting in place on the bench where he and Yuma were sitting. Yuma nodded.

“I… wanted to apologize for the other day,” Midorikawa watched Yuma’s throat bob up and down. “I was rude to you, and you didn’t deserve that.” Midorikawa let his breath loosen, before sliding one hand over Yuma’s. 

“Is that all?” Yuma’s eyes met his, and Midorikawa fought down a blush creeping to his cheeks. Midorikawa hid it with a smile. “Yuma, I’ll be here for you while you figure out whatever you need to, so don’t worry about it.” Yuma’s eyes fell to the ground. 

“Yeah, thanks.” His hand squeezed Midorikawa’s, and they sat in silence for a few moments. “There is something else.” He said softly.

Midorikawa turned to look at him. “Something else?” He echoed. Yuma nodded.

“I’ve been thinking a lot recently, about a lot of different things to, one of them is you. Yuma directed his gaze at Midorikawa, and inhaled sharply. “I’ve met a lot of different people since I came here. And yet, none of them make me feel the way you do. Even Osamu, he’s my best friend,” Yuma smiled at his shoes. “And I care about him a lot. But the way I feel when I think about him isn’t the same as when I think about you.” Midorikawa swallowed.

“And?” He prompted Yuma to continue. Yuma’s gaze met Midorikawa’s.

“And I think, I do like you. In the, you know.” Yuma grinned sheepishly. “Like like way.” 

Midorikawa rested his head on Yuma’s shoulder. “Mhmm.”

“So,” Yuma continued. “I still have a lot of things to figure out for myself, and there’s a lot of things that could happen, but will you stay with me?” 

Midorikawa’s heart felt warm, yet light. He squeezed Yuma’s hand gently. “Of course,” He murmured. “I’m with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, the end! First off, I'd like to thank everyone who stayed with me through this, seriously this support means the world to me, I would've dropped this halfway through without it. A few words about the chapter, it's a little cheesy and ooc I guess, but I didn't feel like last chapter was a good enough conclusion, especially considering Midorikawa was still out of the picture. Next time, Yuma as well as half of Border finally goes to therapy like they need to do lol. Anyways, seriously thank you all so much for reading this, and I hope you all have a fantastic day!

**Author's Note:**

> Woot first time publishing here! I actually have a like 5 more chapters up on Wattpad, but a friend told me to publish it here, so I did. I'll gradually put the other chapters up, although I'm unsure on how often since I have school and all that. I have 6 chapters written right now so hopefully I'll get the others up by the time I'm done with the seventh lol.


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